Sean Coughlin is giving at talk at the History of Science, Medicine and Technology Group seminars, organized by Zubin Mistry, Richard Oosterhoff and Petros Bouras-Vallianatos and co-organized with the Classics Seminar. The series is hosted by the School of History, Classics & Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh.

Left: distillation apparatus of Zosimus of Panoplus (4th c.) in Codex Parisinus Graecus 2327. Right: putti making perfume on a 1st c. fresco uncovered at the House of Vettii, Triclinium, Pompeii.

Abstract

The talk goes over what we know about ancient perfume recipes and production, some of the differences between Egyptian, ancient Greek and modern perfumes and ointments, and the approach the Alchemies of Scent project is taking to replicating recipes for stakte, our project’s first perfume.